What are your dreams for Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s next century?

By Ilana DeBare
Yesterday we printed quotes from our volunteers about what they most appreciate about Golden Gate Bird Alliance. Today we’re sharing other responses from the Centennial survey that our volunteers filled out last year — about what they hope and envision for our next century.
Do these statements strike a chord with you? Do you have other or different ideas? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts!

What do you think Golden Gate Bird Alliance should strive to achieve in the next 100 years?

Continue rising to new challenges as they come along and coordinating with other agencies with similar agendas to promote healthy habitats for humans and wildlife alike.
Further restoration of natural habitat throughout the Bay Area.
Adapt to a changing world — not just technology, but diversity and cultural differences.
Work to make the connection between birds and people ever stronger, so that climate change policies help to protect bird habitat as well as human habitat.
Turning the huge birding community into a powerful advocacy force for conservation.
Subsidize and engage the “young” professionals (e.g. over 18 and under 40). I am 35 and I always bring down the average age.

Today’s Eco-Ed students could be tomorrow’s Audubon leaders. Photo by Monica Moore.

I would love GGBA to have an actual facility of our own, where we could teach classes, have meetings, and maybe even do a little birding and habitat maintenance — maybe in one of the regional parks?
Preserve wetlands and other safe places for birds and animals in general.
The biggest challenge will be climate change, sea level rise, and what this will mean for the birds and people in the Bay Area and globally.  GGBA needs to engage in activities and partnerships that optimize habitat for the survival of birds in the next century.
We need to do our part in our own backyard to further E.O. Wilson’s project to set aside 50% of the planet for biodiversity.
Whoa!!  I am convinced the operating budget must be expanded to achieve what GGBA needs to achieve. We need to do so much – and we need funds to do most of this work. As a native of the Bay Area, I see the natural environment shrinking on a daily basis – and we have to do everything we can to stop this shrinkage!
GGBA volunteers clean up shorebird habitat at Crissy Field. Photo by Corny Foster.

Increase activities that get ordinary people exposed to nature.
Conserve habitat, make local parks reflect use for birding, not guns/cars/off-road vehicles/etc.
Work to protect what little of the natural world we have left.
Continue to connect people w/nature, especially people living in urban environments.  We tend to focus on (either) kids OR adults.  What would a truly family-focused program look like if it were trying to appeal to families on the lower end of the socio-economic scale?
More habitat restoration and bird classes.  Less attention given to eliminating off-leash dogs from public open spaces.
Defeat the irresponsible dog owners – support adoption of GGNRA’s dog plan and similar restriction in other public open spaces.  Work with American Bird Conservancy to promote “cats indoors” campaign.
2016 SF Christmas Bird Count. Here’s to 100 more CBCs in the next 100 years! / Photo by Sharon Beals

Small:  I would like us to bring a “birds-first” point of view to the larger conservation discussions around the Bay.    Big: I would like us to have very deep and wide roots in the community, so we can effectively organize on behalf of birds and their environment.
Provide roughly the same mix of activities as at present, but attract two, or even ten, times as many people to take part in them.
Restore as much habitat for birds as possible, especially wetlands.
Be here – continuing the work!
Increase membership.
Stop Climate Change.

What are your ideas or dreams for Golden Gate Audubon’s next century? Share your comments here! Or even better, help make those dreams a reality. Get involved as a GGBA volunteer restoring habitat or introducing kids and adults to Bay Area birds and nature. Or join one of our three conservation committees (San Francisco East Bay, and Alameda) to help shape the future of our region. See the Volunteer page of our web site for email volunteer@goldengatebirdalliance.org. 
Have you had a chance to view our traveling Centennial exhibit yet? It is on display at the Tides Thoreau Center in the Presidio through September 29. Then, from October 3, 2017 through January 2, 2018, it will be at Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek. Click here for details.